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Colorado Speaker Claims Sexists Remarks Were ‘Out of Context’

Mark Ferrandino, Democratic Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, claims that sexist remarks made by one of the members of his caucus were taken out of context. The comments, made by State Democratic Representative Joe Salazar, sparked an immediate backlash against the legislator and the Democratic leadership via social media outlets.

Salazar’s comments, which trotted out the highly offensive idea that women are incapable of determining a threat to themselves due to their emotions, have yet to be denounced by any member of the Democratic leadership in Colorado. Instead, Salazar offered a non-apology apology which included an attempt to smear those who challenged his comments as racists.

Ferrandino, in a statement made to the Denver Post, claimed the statements by Salazar have been taken out of context. “Whatever his words may have been and however much those words are being taken out of context,” Ferrandino said. Unfortunately, the full video of Salazar’s remarks make clear that the context of his statements do not change the offensiveness of the comments.

Ferrandino, who used the comments of Todd Akin to fundraise for Democratic state candidates less than a year ago, claimed Republicans were out of touch with women after the 2012 election. “Lessons on the campaign trail over the last year haven’t been learned,” Ferrandino said in a Denver Post article with regards to Republican bills on abortion.

Ferrandino gave no regard to the context of Akin’s remarks, as ill formed as they may have been. Instead, Ferrandino engaged in a ruthless campaign to paint all Republicans with the broad brush of Akin’s comments.